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Picked up my Pat this morning after seven weeks in purgatory.

New axle bearings and gear adjustment, new trans, new front chrome, new carb, front wheels packed and a couple of small bits fixed.

Runs wonderfully: peppy, shifts perfectly, no bearing whine, A/C is blasting.

Pick up 15 & 16 yr old granddaughters for an ice cream cone. Drive through steak and shake and sit in the car chillin with malts and such.

Car parked but running with air on.

Motor stops and will not restart.

Gas tank 3/8 full. After an hour of help, mechanic who worked on car says to add gas, even tho gauge has traditionally been accurate.

Granddaughter fetches the snow blower gas can and fills it with 93. Car starts immediately and proceeds as if everything was hunky dory.

Immediately filled tank, which took a bit over 11 gallons.

Went to evening car show and discussed problem.

Consensus is that the fuel line within the tank is rusted and that I probably need a new tank/intake bits.

Agree/disagree?

If it's hot enough that you need the AC on, the first thing I would suspect is vapor lock.

If you have ruled out vapor lock and adding the gallon of gas did the trick then the line getting a pinhole at the very top is a known problem. It usually is where the line inside the tank attaches to the outside opening and bends before it starts the drop down to the tank bottom. At roughly half full or needing 11 gallons point is right about the spot where the very top is uncovered. If you made it to about 1/4 tank the top of the U is the other place.

Here is a photo of the tank inside that Ross posted some time back. I added arrows pointing to the two areas pinholes have been known to happen.

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HH56 has directed you to what's not an uncommon problem, I could name half a dozen folks who have experienced exactly that. If your problem was enough rust in the tank to do that, you'd almost certainly see it in the filter bowl.

It made perfect sense. Looks simple to fix but probably isn't. What are the choices?

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That was what I originally thought, though they've never been an issue. Car was definitely running warm. What spooked me bigtime was that I switched on the electric fan and the car died. Was it coincidence? Answer wasn't so clear at the time.

One other note: that kneeknocker really pumps out cool air!!!!

It made perfect sense. Looks simple to fix but probably isn't. What are the choices?

Not a simple fix because the tank is welded together. In order to fix the old tank you would need to take it to a place that could cut a large hole, replace the line, and then repair the large hole cut for the repair. The rest of the tank is probably not in that great a shape either. Last year that or finding a used tank was about the only option but thanks to Kanters repro tanks, now you would be much better off and probably out less to just get a repro tank.

I suppose I'll order from Kanter. If you went by their alleged website you wouldn't feel they deserved thew time of day.

As far as I can see, the new tanks are raw steel; or is it galvanized or tinned? What--if anything--would you want it coated with? Or is it stainless in some form?

Do they add a modern intake setup so you don't have to hold the nozzle?

Kanter's tanks are made of terne plate, just like Packards and everyone elses of the era and up until plastic tanks became the norm and I wouldn't coat it with anything. We're fortunate to finally have these tanks available and take pity on the folks who have to have one of those baffled 3- or 6-compartment tanks made for earlier Packards, or for that matter, even to repair one.

Looked up terne on the wiki and found that it was tin and lead, but is now zinc and tin. One puzzling item in the description.

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Any thoughts on the "must be painted" comment?

I don't think they had gas tanks in mind when they said "must be painted".